Dewey, a famous American pragmatic educator, put forward the basic principles of the teaching theory of "integration of teaching and learning" in 1900. Dewey believes that the best education is "learning from life and learning from experience". "Learning by doing" refers to "learning from activities" and "learning from experience", which links the knowledge gained in school with activities in the process of life. Dewey's thought represents the educational idea of early bourgeois pragmatism, which is essentially different from our current scientific education idea of inquiry.

Mr. Tao Xingzhi, a modern educator and thinker in China, studied education with American educators such as Dewey, Meng Lu and Ke Qubo when he was studying at Columbia University. After returning to China, he actively studied western educational thoughts, and established the theory of teaching, learning and living education in 1926 in combination with China's national conditions. Put forward three propositions: "life is education", "society is school" and "teaching integration". Life education theory is the theoretical core of Tao Xingzhi's educational thought. The combination of teaching and doing attaches great importance to the role of doing in teaching. "Doing" in Mr. Tao Xingzhi's theory of "learning by doing" refers to living social practice and emphasizes learning in social practice. "Learning by doing" is a project of national science education reform (inquiry science education). "Doing" here refers to scientific inquiry with brain and hands-on, emphasizing that students construct their own scientific concepts and cognitive models in hands-on learning.